Monterey Bay research finds whale communication more complex than thought

Researchers using AI and custom machine learning analyzed more than 1,000 sperm whale recordings and report that click sequences resemble very slow vowels and show dialect-like variation.

South of Santa Cruz, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary includes deep offshore waters that host many marine species. Researchers at the Friedlaender Lab (UC Santa Cruz) and collaborators have focused on studying sperm whales there. Professor Gašper Beguš of UC Berkeley and members of Project Ceti analyzed more than 1,000 recordings and used machine learning tools to examine the animals' sounds. Their work found that the click patterns, or codas, show structured acoustic elements that resemble very slow vowels when the recordings are temporally adjusted. Key findings: - The team worked with over 1,000 sperm whale recordings collected from Monterey Bay and other areas. - Researchers used AI and a custom machine learning program to speed up recordings and remove long silent intervals for comparison with human speech pacing. - Analysis indicates that many click sequences function like vowel sounds, and some codas contain diphthong-like elements. - The study's authors report observable regional and social variation in codas, which they describe as dialect-like, and the findings are published in the journal Open Mind. Summary: The study suggests sperm whale codas are more acoustically complex than previously believed and include vowel-like and diphthong-like elements with apparent dialectal differences. The research is published in Open Mind. Undetermined at this time.